The Best Talent Doesn’t Equal the Best Team

Whether it’s because we’ve compromised our values, losing credibility with some of the best folks who had previously carried our team, or we simply didn’t put enough intentional effort into rallying everyone around a clearly articulated set of core values, the highest performers in our organizations will find a way to be part of a culture that lives out the values painted on the wall or listed in the handbook. In cases, those folks are direct targets for our competition. But sometimes that disconnect between what’s listed as an organizational value and what’s seen on a daily basis is all an extremely talented employee needs to take a stab at starting a business of their own. In either case, a company that previously had some of the most skilled people in their field can find themselves ill-equipped to maintain a longstanding reputation.

I often share how I hired 225 employees during the last eighteen months I worked for a large manufacturing company, and how that only increased the overall headcount by about 20. At that point, we were using every option we could find to identify potential candidates and very few of those came as referrals from current employees. Just a few years prior to that though, and for all the years I was with that organization leading up to that point, employee referrals were the primary source. While that facility experienced several management changes in a short period, that wasn’t the biggest factor behind those referrals drying up. The more pressing issue was that the managers calling the shots at that point didn’t seem to align with the values that many of the longest tenured (and most loyal) employees shared. That, and the fact that those managers never put much energy into building relationships with the employees so anyone would have an understanding of what they did value, played a significant part in the recruitment and retention process for that company. And the folks who remained had little reason to band together as a tight-knit team.

Another example I’ve watched unfold over the years was a smaller organization that once had a world-class team. Each department head and many of the key contributors throughout the company were truly the best in their area. While the executive team in that organization didn’t necessarily compromise their stated values, they just didn’t place enough emphasis on them to provide the best employees with a reason to actively collaborate. In most cases, that only resulted in apathy, but there were a few occasions where some of the best on the roster were actively competing against each other - for jobs and for positions within the company. While all organizations have some level of turnover, even if that’s just due to retirements, losing extremely talented people is never easy to absorb. Not only did retirements have a bit of an impact, no less than six of those outstanding performers - several having been there for many years - started their own businesses actively competing with the company they had been part of together.

I’ll never pretend that simply listing a few words and definitions on the wall or in handbook is all it takes to build a great team, but I will say I’ve never seen a talented group of people work cohesively over a long period of time without have a strong foundation of values that are meaningful to them all. With that in mind, our next step will be to work through specific things we can all do to rally our teams around the core values of our organization!